A SOUTH Lakeland teenager has been awarded a prestigious place in the National Youth Orchestra of Great Britain 2018.

Violinist Alistair Burton, 16, of Stainton, near Kendal, will join 163 other young people, aged 13 to 19, in the greatest teenage orchestra in the world after auditions in 11 cities for more than 700 musicians across the United Kingdom.

Alistair, a former pupil of Crosscrake Primary School who now attends Queen Elizabeth School, Kirkby Lonsdale, has been playing the violin for eight years.

"I am incredibly excited to be a part of NYOGB in 2018," said Alistair, who is leader of the Westmorland Youth Orchestra. "Earlier this year I was lucky enough to participate in a NYO Inspire residency in Birmingham, playing Bernstein's On the Waterfront suite and Marquez' Danzon no. 2.

"It was immensely enjoyable to spend a week surrounded by other young musicians as passionate about making music as I am. The conversations over breakfast ranged from favourite Mahler symphonies to the merits and demerits of fried eggs."

At QES Alistair's musical interests extend from orchestra, to choir, to folk group and to playing piano in the school's upcoming production of Chicago. He also plays keyboard in a rock band and has been a member of the Westmorland Youth Orchestra for nearly six years.

During the year the NYO musicians will participate in three residencies with inspirational music directors, give major concerts, play live on BBC Radio 3, appear on Classic FM and participate in the NYO Inspire programme. They will be a part of the NYO's 70th anniversary celebrations, which includes several 'firsts' for the orchestra.

In January 2018 NYO will perform a complete opera for the very first time: Bártok’s macabre fairy-tale Duke Bluebeard’s Castle, conducted Sir Mark Elder.

Three concerts, in Manchester’s Bridgewater Hall (January 5), Nottingham’s Royal Concert Hall (January 6) and London’s Barbican (January 7) will celebrate the magical, mythical and weird in music, including Dukas’ Sorcerer’s Apprentice’ and Lyadov’s The Enchanted Lake.

In another first, as part of the official month-long 70th anniversary celebrations in April, NYO divides into two ensembles; one orchestra performs Leonard Bernstein’s MASS with conductor Marin Alsop, directed by Jude Kelly CBE, and the other takes on Bernstein’s concept of the concert for young people, reinventing it as NYO Unleashed.

NYO will work with Sir George Benjamin during their Summer Residency which culminates in concerts at Aldeburgh (August 2) and Birmingham Symphony Hall (August 3) in a programme of Debussy La Mer, Ravel’s Piano Concerto for the Left Hand with soloist Tamara Stefanovich, and Benjamin’s Dance Figures.

NYO musicians will volunteer over 1,000 days as peer leaders as part of NYO Inspire, working side-by-side with other young people during the year, using their skills and experience to help others to expand their horizons and increase self-confidence.